Shane Schofield
Shane Michael Schofield, also known by his call-sign Scarecrow, is a United States Marine with a well-known reputation regarding his high-risk tactical maneuvers and for succeeding against all odds. He is the main protagonist of the Scarecrow series. History Early History Born to John Schofield and an unnamed mother, Shane Schofield grew up admiring his grandfather, Michael Schofield, who had been one of the most decorated Marines in the Corps. While Schofield became close to his grandfather, his relationship with his father was considerably worse. John resented Michael's standing within the Corps, and despite being a successful businessman, he felt he was unable to step out from his father's shadow. This manifested in a pattern of systematic abuse against his wife and son. Schofield took on the brunt of the physical abuse in order to spare his mother from too much pain, often ending up with cigarette burns and a broken nose. When Schofield turned 18, he cut off ties with his father and joined the Marine Corps in the Aviation Wing, where he went on to become a Harrier Jumpjet pilot on the USS Wasp under Jack Walsh's command. Schofield was flying 'unofficial' reconnaissance flights in Serbian airspace until he was shot down and taken hostage by Bosnians. They proceeded to torture him, including cutting into his eyes. A Marine Force Reconnaissance team led by Buck "Book" Riley Sr was sent in by Walsh to rescue him, and though the extraction was a bloodbath, Schofield was secured. He was soon taken to John Hopkins hospital, where they managed to restore his eyesight using state of the art laser eye surgery, however two long scars still remained. This lead to General Norman McLean giving Schofield a new call-sign: Scarecrow. Due to regulations regarding eyesight, he was not allowed to fly anymore, and so Schofield, in part grateful to the men who had rescued him, re-enlisted in the Marine's Force Recon division. Returning to Basic School, Schofield did every course they had and succeeded, becoming friends with Andrew Trent during this time. Soon after completing his training as a Recon Marine, Schofield was given the rank of lieutenant and his own unit. Around this time, Schofield was identified by the Motor Neuron Rapidity of Response study as having extraordinary reflexes, which would make him one of the few men who could disarm the CincLock system. Before Ice Station Schofield's unit was tasked with assisting an Army Ranger platoon in providing a perimeter around a Peruvian temple inside which Trent and his team were apparently engaged in battle. Shortly after a Navy SEAL unit went to to assist, Schofield received a transmission from Trent on the commander-only frequency - though he was unable to receive Schofield's attempts to respond - saying that he was being attacked by the SEALs and some of his own men. Though Schofield tried arguing with the Ranger's leader, Arlin Brookes, into letting his team pass, Schofield was refused and threatened. It was until nearly a whole year had passed that Schofield's inquires about what had happened were answered, and Schofield learned that Trent had supposedly died with the rest of his unit in an accident. Despite knowing that wasn't the case, Schofield was unable to uncover the truth of the incident. Some time later, Schofield was reassigned to lead Marine Reconnaissance Unit 16, and a barbecue was thrown at Pearl Harbour where he met other members of the unit, Book among them. Among the other members of the unit, he met Elizabeth "Fox" Gant. They immediately began talking, and Schofield found himself drawn to her, but feared that if she knew about his eyes, she'd reject him, and instead resigned himself to being friends with her. Ice Station Schofield and his unit were sent to answer a distress signal from the isolated Wilkes research station in Antarctica, from which they claim to have discovered an alien spaceship buried under the ice before the divers sent to investigate were killed. Upon arrival, Schofield learned of the happenings of the station from Sarah Hensleigh, and was suspicious of a group of scientists from a nearby French station. As it turned out, most of those French scientists were in fact a French paratrooper unit, which had also intercepted the distress call and were attempting to claim the spacecraft for themselves. After narrowly defeating them, Schofield blamed himself for not seeing them as soldiers and their lucky victory before sending some of his forces and Hensleigh down to the cavern with the spacecraft. Following the murder of one of his heavily wounded men, Schofield began to worry that one of his men was a traitor, remembering the incident with Andrew Trent, when Trent had claimed that some of his unit's men had turned against the rest. As he admitted these fears to Gena "Mother" Newman, Schofield realised that a scientist named James Renshaw, who had apparently killed another scientist before their arrival might be the culprit, but was shot in the neck while awaiting news of Renshaw's status and location in the station, his heart stopping. Fortunately, his would-be-assassin kicked his body into the diving pool, unknowingly kick-starting his heart due to the icy water acting like a defibrillator. The unconscious Schofield was retrieved by Renshaw, who helped clear up the wound, noting Schofield had been lucky that he had been wearing a hidden kevlar collar where he had been shot, and asked for help in proving his innocence. After confronting the Marine who had shot him, Snake, and preventing him from killing Mother, he learned that the Intelligence Convergence Group (ICG), a secretive and insidious government intelligence organisation dedicated to maintaining America's technological superiority at any cost, was preparing to seize the spacecraft and kill Schofield and his team to prevent them from spreading word about the spacecraft. Learning that a team from the British SAS was on its way, led by Brigadier Trevor Barnaby, a former mentor intent on securing the secret of Wilkes Ice Station for the British, Schofield ordered his heavily-depleted team to evacuate. Despite wanting to get Mother out too, she convinced him to go since she would slow him down, so he kissed her goodbye. En-route to McMurdo station, their hovercrafts were attacked by the British, and in the ensuing battle Book and Kirsty Hensleigh were captured, while Schofield and Renshaw's hovercraft went over the ice cliff and into the ocean below. Before landing on an iceberg, Schofield destroyed a French submarine intending to destroy Wilkes. Finding diving equipment in what had once being another ice station before it had disappeared in a iceberg, Schofield and Renshaw made their way back to Wilkes and confronted the SAS team killing every single member, as well as Snake, but was too late to save Book. After receiving a message from the still-alive Trent, Schofield learned the names of several ICG members, among them Sarah Hensleigh and Montana, and escaped into the ice cavern to avoid being killed by the most deadly US military unit: Navy SEALs. Having learned the spacecraft was actually a long-lost prototype military aircraft called the Silhouette, and that a nuclear missile was set to destroy Wilkes station, Schofield and the remaining survivors managed to activate the ship and Schofield narrowly manages to pilot it out of the collapsing station. After engaging in a dogfight with a squadron of F-22 Raptors under the control of the ICG, Schofield landed on the Wasp, and used the last remaining missile on the Silhouette to destroy the plane before it could be claimed by an ICG leader, Thomas Clayton. After arriving in Pearl Harbour, Schofield was confronted by Sergeant-Major Chuck Kozlowski, one of the heads of ICG, who prepared to kill him, but was saved by Trent's intervention. After exposing the ICG, Schofield sat near the bed of the wounded Gant, refusing to leave her side until she woke up. Between Ice Station & Area 7 Following the fallout from the Wilkes Ice Station incident, Schofield, Mother and Gant were reassigned to the Presidential Detail, stationed on Marine One, in order to keep them out of the public's eye since Schofield was still popular from the ICG / Wilkes situation. He has gone out on a date with Gant, which ended somewhat awkwardly due to Schofield fear that Gant wouldn't want him because of his eyes and decided not to kiss her at the end. Area 7 Just over a year after the Wilkes incident, while accompanying the President's entourage on an inspection to a top secret Air Force Base in the Utah desert, Schofield begins to suspect something is wrong, and is called upon to act as bodyguard for the President when the staff's Air Force personnel, 7th Squadron, led by Charles "Caesar" Russell, issue a challenge; if the President's heart stops, fourteen major American cities will be destroyed, thanks to a device connected to the President's heart. Avoiding being killed immediately, Schofield leads a group through the base to locate the President, destroying an AWACS plane and finding a boy named Kevin contained in the facility. Soon his team find the President and drive away some of the 7th Squadron soldiers. Learning the base is a research facility to counteract a Chinese-developed virus called the Sinovirus, which could kill anyone with pigmentation cells, and Kevin is used to develop a cure, Schofield decided to procure the Football for the President so that the warheads won't be detonated at the end of a recurring 90 minute countdown. However Kevin has been taken by a team of South African Reccondos and turncoat scientist Gunther Botha, so Schofield takes off to rescue him, however they are attached by the 7th Squadron and are separated from the President, with Schofield in possession of the Football. Arriving at Lake Powell, Schofield and Book II survive the brawl and hide underwater while the Reccondos and Botha are killed and 7th Squadron seizes Kevin. While making their way back to Area 7 to get the Football to the President, Schofield tells Book II about his father's death by Barnaby's hands, earning the young Marine's respect. After returning to Area 7 and locating the President and ending the Football's countdown, Schofield and the others are captured by the escaped prisoners of the facility, and kill some of the 7th Squadron soldiers they are forced to fight. Although Colonel Harper unleashes a Sinovirus grenade in an attempt to kill everyone else, Schofield uses the vaccine that Botha possessed to vaccinate himself and his team. Schofield then pursues Caesar and the 7th Squadron's Echo unit to Area 8, where the Echo unit is planning to use a X-38 to take Kevin to a Chinese space station. En-route, Mother confronts him on not kissing Gant earlier, admitting he is afraid of Gant's thoughts about his eyes, and Mother reassures him about Gant's feelings. At Area 8, Schofield and the President manage to sneak aboard the 747 plane carrying the X-38 and then get on board that in turn. After they head into space, they retrieve Kevin and force the pilot to return to Area 7 to retrieve the Football. Unfortunately, Caesar reveals he also possessed a transmitter on his heart, preparing to kill himself so that he would in some way still succeed. Schofield rescued Gant from the remaining prisoner, Lucifer Leary, and kisses her at last. They both go to stop Caesar and stop the self-destruct sequence, however Caesar stopped him. After narrowly defeating the leader of the 7th Squadron, Kurt Logan, Schofield is able to kill Caesar once Gant disrupts his transmitter, and the two escape the self-destructing facility. Later, after being awarded medals for saving the President's life, Schofield and Gant go on another date, and Schofield revealed he was guarding Kevin until a permanent home could be found for him. Between Area 7 & Scarecrow Shortly after the incident at Area 7, Schofield's father John committed suicide, leaving 12 million dollars to his son. However Schofield felt that the money was tainted because it had been "a cruel man's money", so at Gant's suggestion, Schofield donated all of it to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. Schofield and Gant officially declared their relationship to the Corps, and due to policies regarding relationships between members of the same unit, Gant was reassigned to another unit, which she would be leading due to her recent graduation from Officer' Candidate's School. Some time during this period, Schofield was invited to attend an Offensive Driving course taught by the former Marine, Kris Hankison. Schofield would later note that he was impressed by Hankison's skills. Schofield, Gant, Mother and Ralph began planning a holiday to Italy together, intending to see the Aerostadia Airfield, which was set to feature two X-15 planes. Schofield planned on proposing to Gant during the trip, and told Mother about his intention. Unbenknownst to Schofield, the "billionaires club" Majestic-12 added Schofield to a bounty list of fifteen people who had to be eliminated. Due to concerns about Schofield's reputation, M-12 decided that their best chance of eliminating him would be an ambush, and so one of their assets began arranging a sham mission for the Marine to go on. Scarecrow On October 25th, nearly sixteen months after the Area 7 crisis, Schofield was sent on a mission to a former Soviet base to back up two Delta force squads led by Gregory Farrell and Dean McCabe. However, the whole mission turned out to be a sham, and Schofield learned that he was one of fifteen names on an international bounty hunt list, with each head valued at $18.6 million. Narrowly escaping ExSol and their leader Cedric Wexley, Schofield raced to Afghanistan to find Gant to keep anyone from using her to get to him. However he was too late, and another bounty hunting team, IG-88, captured her, while another team led by Dmitri Zamanov held him at gunpoint. Luckily another bounty hunter, Aloysius Knight or "the Black Knight", helped him escape, revealing that he had being paid by someone else to keep him alive until the end of the bounty, hoping that he would accomplish whatever the benefactors of the hunt did not want him to do. After they rescued Gant from a team of IG-88 men, they followed a lead to the Forteresse de Valois, a castle in France which is paying off the bounties. While waiting in disguise for Knight to gather information, Jonathon Killian, the castle's owner appears and is pleasant to Schofield and Gant, but has realised Schofield's true identity and leaves him to the ExSol forces and the Skorpions. After a lengthy and highly destructive chase, Schofield is forced to parachute into the ocean while Knight and Gant are captured. Before being taken aboard a French aircraft carrier, Book II informs him that Killian and Majestic-12, the richest men in the world, are eliminating the people on the list because they are the only ones who can disarm a CincLock-VII security system, which will launch missiles at major locations and start a new Cold War. After the French (who have not forgotten about his defeat of the French Paratroopers and submarine) interrogate him and force him to disarm a CincLock-VII device, they prepared to kill Schofield, but Mother, Knight and Rufus rescued him just in time. However they informed him that Gant was dead, murdered by Killian and a rat-faced man. The distraught Schofield attempted to commit suicide, but Mother stopped him and convinced him to stop M-12's plans. After stopping all the Chameleon missiles by having his allies around the world provide an up-link to the missile silos so that he could disarm them, Schofield discovered that Killian had his own plan; to create anarchy by using another missile to blow up Mecca. Using a pair of X-15s to catch up to the missile, Schofield disarmed it mid-flight, but he, Rufus and Knight all crash, after which they are apprehended by a rogue Delta operator and taken back to the Forteresse de Valois. Killian congratulated Schofield on his heroism, but noted that even so, people like him are never remembered, and ordered Noonan to behead him in a guillotine, as he had Gant. Luckily Mother arrived, and freed him, Knight and Rufus. In the ensuing battle, Schofield killed Noonan and Wexley before confronting Killian. Killian claims that Schofield killing him would only prove that he had broken the Marine, however Schofield, quoting what Killian had earlier said about suicide bombers, grabbed Killian and jumped out the window to kill them both. However Knight rescued him with his Maghook while Killian fell to his death. 4 months later, with M-12 having being dealt with and having taken a break from the Corps due to the trauma he sustained during the bounty hunt, Schofield attended a barbecue at Mothers. There he received a letter from Knight, who encouraged him to move on with his life and accept Gant's death because the world still and always would need people like him to save it. With that, Schofield decided to return to duty with the Marines. Between Scarecrow and Hell Island However, despite being cleared for active duty, many of his superiors had not expected him to return at all, and were wary about his psychological state. The Marine Corps decided to assign him to a teaching position at Parris Island. This was seen as an insult by many for such a highly regarded soldier, however Schofield proved to be very good at it, earning the respect of many of his students. The Corps also sent Schofield to a series of psychiatrists to help him cope with Gant's death, however this did not help. Eventually he located a psychologist on his own, Dr Brooke Ulacco, who Schofield felt comfortable around because he felt she was a real-world person. Ulacco began treating Schofield once she was given security clearance, and taught Schofield how to compartmentalise his memories of Gant using a technique called the method of locci, in which he kept his memories of her inside the idea of a submarine. Ulacco also told him that he could use this to also eject his memories completely if he wanted, however Schofield decided against it, believing that his memories of Gant were a part of who he was. Hell Island After some time, he was re-equipped with a new team of Force Recon Marines and sent on a suicide mission to a base on Hell Island, due to the belief he was only a liability who would surely be killed. Schofield's Marines, as well as a Delta Force team, a squad of SEALs and a force from the 82nd Airborne Division, prepared to investigate an apparently abandoned aircraft carrier. Schofield team are soon attacked by gorillas, enhanced with a chip (nanotechnology) within their brains to turn them into soldiers. After defeating a large number of the gorillas by luring them into a helicopter and ditching it into the ocean, Schofield decided to strategize, and as his Marines bickered, Schofield realised the gorillas are being controlled by William "Buck" Broyles, the former leader of what was acknowledged to be the best Marines Unit. Using knowledge gained from his grandfather, Michael Schofield, who was one of many Marines who had seized the island during World War II, he led his team into an old munitions chamber where the gorillas were trapped and set to be killed in an explosion. However Malcolm Knox, the DARPA scientist in charge of the project, stopped them and apparently congratulated Schofield on his success for his unknowing participation in the test, though Schofield was disgusted that it had cost the lives of actual soldiers. Knox ordered the Delta team to execute them, however, Mother jammed the signals controlling the chips in the apes, releasing them to murder the scientists while Schofield and his men killed the Delta team. Schofield flooded the tunnels and drowned the gorillas, along with the Buck. They leave on a C-17 which was sent to pick up the DARPA scientists and Delta teams along with the apes. Between Hell Island and Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves Following this, Schofield became a target for assassination for the French government, who retained a hatred for the Marine who had killed their troops, destroyed their submarine and sunken their aircraft carrier. The first two DGSE agents who tried to claim the $5 million bounty made their attempt after one of Schofield's monthly dinner outings with his grandfather. Luckily Schofield was able to spot them and disarmed the pair quickly. The second attempt on his life came six months later, while Schofield was driving home. During a brief chase, he killed the passenger firing at him, before he ran the other car off the road. Because no diplomatic solution between the new American President and French President could be reached to call off the bounty, Schofield was assigned to a eight-week long equipment testing project to temporarily keep him out of harm's way (and also because his superiors were still reluctant to return him to Force Recon roles). Schofield was then sent with a handful of Marines, including Mother, and four civilian contractors up into the Arctic Circle. In the weeks they spent there, Schofield became friendly with Zack Weinberg, Emma Dawson and the Kid, but found it hard to like his fellow Marine Mario, and disliked the weapons' contractor Jeff Hartigan, and his assistant Chad, mostly for the former's arrogant behaviour. During this time, Schofield was interested in Zack's bomb-disposal robot Bertie, and was assigned to be the robot's secondary buddy. Schofield also used Zack's experimental high-tech wrist-guard to stay in touch with Fairfax, who towards the end of the assignment warned him that an assassin working for the French DGSE known as Renard had requested to follow up on his bounty. Though no one else but Mother knew, Schofield continued to have the odd nightmare about Gant's gruesome death during this time, sometimes even talking in his sleep. Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves A week before they were to return home from the Arctic, the militia group known as the Army of Thieves took control of the old Soviet Dragon Island facility, once the crown jewel in the Soviet weapons development program, and were preparing to set off a highly destructive weapon which would ignite the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere. Though Ira "Ironbark" Barker and his SEAL team were closer and better equipped to take on the Army, Schofield suggested to Ironbark that they join forces. Ironbark rudely told Schofield that they be able to handle it without his help, so Schofield decided to investigate the crashed plane that had sent the original distress call to check on the pilot. He then asked the civilians if they would join him, Mother, Mario and the Kid on the mission, pointing out that it would be dangerous. While Zack, Emma and Chad (the latter's agreement being a surprise to Schofield), Hartigan refused to take part, and called Schofield a fool for taking on such an obvious suicide mission. When Schofield's team reached the crashed plane, Schofield rescued the pilot, Vasily Ivanov, but immediately came under attack from a Thieves squadron. During the attack, a French submarine appeared, which Schofield realised contained the French team sent to liquidate him. But while the French also came under fire from the Army, Schofield decided to help them in order to gain their assistance, but only managed to save three soldiers. Proceeding towards Dragon while under fire, they managed to take refuge in an islet laboratory where Schofield hoped that they'd be able to come up with a quick plan of attack. However, one of the French soldiers was revealed to be Renard, in fact a woman named Veronique Champion, and the late Luc Champion's cousin. While she had been under the impression Schofield had personally killed him, he managed to clear up the truth, and though they agreed that the threat posed by the Army of Thieves took precedence, Champion said she would continue her mission when they were done. They questioned Ivanov, who revealed that in order to fire the Tesla weapon, the Army needed to seed the atmosphere with the acid-rocket fuel mixture, before firing a battery of missiles armed with red uranium into the cloud. With it being too late to do stop the former, Schofield decided to target the red uranium and throw it into the Arctic Ocean, where they would be unrecoverable. Schofield and his team began fighting their way through the installation, and Schofield was successful in stealing the spheres, however the Lord of Anarchy fired a missile armed with a backup red uranium sphere into the gas cloud, igniting it, but Ironbark, who had survived the his team's failed assault, had shut down the gas diffusion long enough to create a safe buffer, limiting the ignition. The Lord of Anarchy then sought Schofield's spheres, and the team was scattered after their failed attempt to flee the island by plane. Schofield and Champion ended up in a raft encircling the island, and the two became close after they connected over the loss of their loved ones and their coping mechanisms. Schofield soon recieved information from Fairfax about the Lord of Anarchy, CIA agent Marius Calderon, and that his true goal was to destroy China in order to secure America's position as dominant superpower. He was soon captured by the Army while trying to infiltrate the island again. Schofield is tortured psychologically and physically by Calderon; being teased about his failure to save Gant, forced to watch Ironbark and Hartigan's horrifying deaths - as well as Mother and Baba's apparent deaths - and being dry-electrocuted. Once Calderon obtained the last two spheres, he took Schofield's signature sunglasses as a prize, he had him fatally electrocuted. Luckily, Schofield was revived by Bertie, who then gave chase to Calderon in order to stop him from either launching the final missile or detonating a warhead on-board a cargo plane. While Mother and Baba took care of the missile, Schofield confronted Typhon and Mario (who had betrayed his team), killing both while Calderon escaped by ejecting a stolen mini-submersible from his plane. Luckily Schofield ditched the warhead from the plane before it could ignite the gas cloud. With the threat posed by the Army finally over, the Russian government authorised a missile strike on Dragon Island. Warned by Fairfax of the danger, Schofield raced back to the facility and gathered the remnants of his team in a nuclear bunker hidden under a laboratory. The missile destroyed Dragon and killed the remnants of the Army. Schofield and his team are found alive and well several days later. Schofield and his team are commended by the President for their actions, and the French government lifted the bounty on Schofield's head for rescuing Veronique's team, and for saving France from devastation. Having finally come to terms with the death of Gant, Schofield was encouraged by Mother to start a relationship with Veronique, whose call-sign was revealed to ironically be the French word for fox. However, upon returning home, his found his stolen glasses in his room, implying that Calderon was alive. Between Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves and The Four Legendary Kingdoms In 2016, Schofield was on tour in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Unbeknowst to the Marine, the King of Sea Garrett Caldwell decided that Schofield would be a worthy candidate to participate on his Kingdoms' behalf in the fourth Great Games of the Hydra, and sent some of his people to ask Astro for his opinion on Schofield. After Astro told Caldwell's men what they wanted to know, Schofield, Mother, Astro and Tomahawk were requested to perform a joint operation in southern Afghanistan with a small group of Delta operators led by Jeff Edwards. As soon as they landed on an airstrip near a coast, Schofield and the other Marines became suspicious of both the circumstances and the unperturbed Delta operators, but were soon forced to wear bags over their heads as they were driven to another location. Schofield soon had his hair shaved short and a strange gemstone implanted in the back of his neck, before he was left in a strange cell. The Four Legendary Kingdoms When Schofield's cell eventually opened, he was confronted by a strange man in a bull-shaped helmet coming in to attack him. After killing his crazed opponent, Schofield ventured out of the cell to find himself among thirteen others who had succeeded against their enemies, and noted one who seemed completed unprepared, making a remark about his Homer Simpson t-shirt. They were then all confronted by the man calling himself Hades, who explained that they were all participants in the Great Games of the Hydra. Schofield watched as another man interrupted Hades's speech, claiming that he was here against his will and had no desire to participate, at which point Hades' games master, Vacheron, detonated an explosive in his neck. As Chen's hostages were executed, Schofield spotted his similarly-captured friends and realised that he had no choice but to participate or else he and the hostages would be executed too. Schofield was thrust into the Second Challenge and forced to make his way through a pit filling with water, all while contending against giant catfish, and the black and white lion-helmeted warriors Chaos and Fear. Schofield managed to complete the Challenge, then watched as the winner who had retrieved the Golden Sphere, Gregory Brigham, used his reward to have another Champion executed on the spot. After being reunited with his friends in the interim before the next Challenge, Schofield was soon informed by Vacheron to select one of his hostages to be handcuffed to for the next Challenge. Choosing Mother, Schofield was brought to the starting point for the Third Challenge, where they struggled through the army of minotaurs and armoured elephants due to Mother's bulk and lack of nimbleness, but eventually made it through to the coward's exit. As Schofield and his friends ate, Astro called out to the man Schofield had noted earlier, Jack West Jr, whom he knew from a previous mission. Astro proceeded to introduce Schofield and West to one another, learning that they were both reluctant participants in the Games, but while Jack was prepared to trust Schofield due to his connection to Astro, Schofield was reluctant to do the same. In any case, they Marines asked Jack if he had any idea about what else might be in store for them, which Jack couldn't answer. The following morning, Schofield, the other Champions and hostages were brought on the hostage train to the wall maze comprising the Fourth Challenge, and Schofield opted to choose Astro and Tomahawk as his companions to try and obtain either one of the two Golden Spheres, or the "Golden Stag", the jester Mephisto. During the Challenge, Schofield and his companions briefly battled with the Indian MARCOS commando and his companions before Singh fled. After hearing that both Spheres had been retrieved, Schofield urged his people on to reach the exit before they were trapped inside, successfully making it through. After the Challenge, Schofield complimented Jack on his daring move to capture Mephisto in order to secure his exit. As soon as the Australian was out of earshot, however, he noted to Mother his suspicion that the Games would eventually reach a point where he would have to fight Jack, and asked her opinion on such an outcome. Mother assured Schofield that while it would likely be difficult, she believed Schofield that he could best Jack. As the progression prepared to move on to the Fifth Challenge, Schofield was informed that he and the other Champions were invited to a lunch hosted by Hades, and would meet Caldwell, his sponsoring King. Reluctantly attending, Schofield dined with Caldwell, Edwards and DeShawn Monroe, and when it was over, Caldwell surreptitiously gave him a syringe with a hyper-oxygenated blood additive, in order to give him an advantage in the subsequent Challenges if he needed it. For the Fifth Challenge, Schofield took on Mother and Astro as his companions as they entered a Light Strike Vehicle they were to use in a Circus Maximus-style race. Together they shrugged off the various attempts by the minotaurs and the Hydra to stop them until a sniper shot from Jack caused a pile up. After seeing Jack snatch the Golden Sphere off of Brigham, Schofield was surprised as he passed him the Sphere, warning the Marine about the impending execution of the hostages and offering to get his people out along with his own. Telling Mother and Astro to go with Jack, Schofield drove on to the finish line with the Sphere, guarded all the way by Jack and the others. Once he was clear up the stairway, Schofield watched as Jack recovered the rest of their hostages from the train and made his escape. When Jack was brought back before Hades and the Royals a while later, Schofield watched as Vacheron prepared to detonate Jack's explosive, at which point he announced his desire to use his reward for winning the Fifth Challenge to have Hades spare Jack's life. To ensure Hades agreed, Schofield backed him into a corner by suggesting that refusing to agree would show he was not as powerful as he claimed, and once Hades asserted that Schofield was prepared to take the risk lest Jack end up killing him later on, the ruler of the Underworld agreed. Schofield was brought along with the rest of the procession to the Summit Temple to watch as the first five Golden Spheres were set into place within the mountains's obelisk before proceeding to the observatory for the remaining Challenges. In the Sixth Challenge, Schofield faced off against Edwards, who taunted Schofield with tricking him into coming to the Underworld. As the two fought, Schofield was beaten back by the Delta operator, and Chaos took an opportunity to stab Schofield through his shoulder. Though wounded, Schofield managed to outsmart Edwards by sweeping his feet from beneath him and throwing himself onto his opponent, so that the sword that continued to stick through his body stabbed Edwards through the heart. When it came to the Seventh Challenge, Schofield found that he was being faced with Jack. With his serious wounds and knowing that he had little chance of succeeding through the rest of the Games, Schofield told Jack to kill him. As Jack prepared to protest, Schofield discreetly showed him the hyper-oxygenated blood additive he had now taken, having decided to take a page from Caesar's book, meaning that if they played this right, Jack could come back and revive him. After a brief scuffle to make it look good for the Royals, Jack proceeded to suffocate the Marine despite interference from Chaos and Mephisto, but killing Schofield despite his plan still tortured Jack. After the Games were over and the minotaurs were set revolting against the Four Kingdoms thanks to their returned allies, Jack rushed back to the combat platform where Schofield's body remained. With it nearly being a full hour since killing him, Jack hoped that the HYPOX had kept the Marine's brain oxygenated long enough as he used a defibrillator to bring him back to life. As Schofield awoke, he was relieved his plan had worked, when he spotted Vacheron with his detonation remote and quickly took Jack's gun and shot him. Once Hades secured them a helicopter from the minotaurs, Schofield took the controls and flew them and their friends away from the Underworld. After arriving at one of Hades's nearby mines, Schofield and his friends opted to take one of the remaining planes owned by the Royals to make their way home. As they bade each other goodbye, Jack apologised for having to kill Schofield (however briefly), and Schofield told Jack that he needed help then he could give him a call. With that, Schofield, Mother, Astro and Tomahawk returned home to the States. The Three Secret Cities After leaving the Underworld, Schofield had his shoulder wound from the fight with Edwards patched up properly, and was told that he would need a month to recover before returning to active duty. Soon Schofield was contacted by Jack, who was in more trouble and asked if Schofield had information on a group of bounty hunters called the Knights of the Golden Eight. While the U.S. Marine hadn't heard of them, he messaged Jack to tell him he had a friend who might and would get back to him. No long after, Schofield saw a news report of an attack in London orchestrated by the Knights of the Golden Eight in order to draw Jack out. Knowing Jack needed help fighting back against the bounty hunters, Schofield reached out to Aloysius Knight, whom he had intended to ask about the Golden Eight anyway, and used his long-standing debt from him to ask Knight to aid Jack. When Jack was later freed from the Royal Prison of Erebus by Knight, the Australian messaged Schofield to thank him for sending Knight his way and noted his colourful character. Schofield soon responded to this by noting that sometimes you needed the biggest and baddest dog in the fight to win. Personality Shane Schofield is a rarity among soldiers; a truly good man. He knows right from wrong like the back of his hand, striving to do what's right by everyone. His penchant for loyalty to his team is what makes him a great leader; if you're in trouble, Schofield will always come back for you regardless of the danger. Break his trust, however, and you will earn the Scarecrow's ire. While he is not an exceptional tactician, Schofield is brilliant at adapting to unique combat situations, often using unorthodox methods to the utmost extreme, and his own reflexes are noted as being among the fastest in the world. Schofield's cool, calm demeanor and ability to think carefully under pressure helps him in various situations, particularly combat. He has shown that whenever someone close to him is killed, or if he is pushed too far, he will essentially become an unstoppable killing machine. Skills * Expert Combatant: As a trained U.S. Marine, Schofield has been trained in several forms of hand-to-hand combat. * Expert Marksman: Being a trained soldier, Schofield is an accurate marksman and capable of using a variety of different firearms. * Expert Tactician: As a leader of Marine Recon units, Schofield is a skilled strategist, able to formulate battle strategies to fit the changing needs of the situation. While this is stated to not be his strongest skill, Schofield is highly adaptable and able to recognise patterns, usually using unorthodox methods that has inadvertently given him a reputation for destruction. * Expert Pilot: Having trained in the aviation wing of the Marine Corps, Schofield can pilot a variety of military aircraft, including fighter jets and helicopters. He is also able to adapt to pilot aircraft he has not been trained to fly in, even foreign aircraft like the Yakovlev and unsanctioned prototypes like the Silhouette. Equipment Weapons * Desert Eagle * MP-5: * MP-7: Vehicles * Hovercraft: * [[B-7A Silhouette|'B-7A Silhouette']]: * Harrier Jumpjet: * Yakovlev Yak-141: * [[Light Strike Vehicle|'Light Strike Vehicle']]: Other Equipment * Armalite MH-12 Maghook: * BRTE-500 / Bertie: Relationships Elizabeth "Fox" Gant Schofield's primary love interest, Gant was one of the original members of his reconnaissance team sent to Wilkes Ice Station. When Gant joined the USMC and met Shane Schofield at Pearl Harbour, she immediately became attracted to him. Schofield seemed to feel the same, and despite becoming good friends did not admit to their feelings. It wasn't until her injuries sustained during Ice Station that they became closer, with Schofield never leaving her side while waiting for her to wake up from her coma. Before Area 7, they go on a date, which goes well until an awkward ending with Schofield not kissing her. However during the story, Mother convinces him that Gant's feelings are genuine, and he kisses her while rescuing her, and they later go on another date. By Scarecrow, they have disclosed their relationship to their superiors, resulting in them being placed in different units as is protocol. Schofield intended to propose to Gant in Italy, however she was killed, almost driving Schofield to suicide, before deciding to get revenge. Between Scarecrow and Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Schofield has being haunted by Gant's death, and sees a psychologist who helps him to get past her death. Gena "Mother" Newman In Ice Station, it is suggested numerous times that Mother is attracted to Schofield, though mainly when she was high on painkillers, which would likely impair her judgement since Ralph (whom she was married to at the time, but not mentioned in the novel) wasn't brought up when she said she'd like a kiss from a good-looking guy like Schofield. Indeed Schofield only kisses her the once when he is forced to leave Mother behind, though at her own insistence, presumably because he was afraid he'd never see her again. Nothing more is mentioned of a romantic relationship between the pair again in Area 7, Scarecrow or Hell Island, though it is clear that they have a great care, respect and loyalty towards one another. In Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves, Ralph is mentioned to suspect that Mother's constant being there for Schofield is more than just friendship; however Mother herself clarifies that her relationship to Schofield is more like a brotherly-sisterly one. Veronique "Renard" Champion Schofield's current potential love interest as of Army of Thieves, was a French assassin tasked with killing him for his actions in Ice Station, after being rescued from the Army of Thieves by Scarecrow they form an alliance and gradually grow closer. In the aftermath of Army of Thieves, they go on a date. While not much is mentioned it did seem to go rather well with Schofield and Veronique talking late into the night. Trivia *Like most of the other leading characters of Reilly's novels, Schofield has a defining feature; in his case, the downward-slashing scars on both eyes. *There are several hints that Schofield's age and the years that his initial adventures take place in have been altered over the years. **When first introduced in Ice Station, Schofield is stated to be 32 years old, when the book was set in 1999. However, in Scarecrow, set in 2003, Schofield is stated to be 33 years old, and later in The Four Legendary Kingdoms, set in 2016, Schofield's Champion Profile states that he is 42 years, ignoring the 17-year gap. **Meanwhile, despite being released eight years following Scarecrow, it was suggested that Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves took place within a year or two of Scarecrow (and some months after Hell Island), even though many real-life events and technological updates (as of 2011) were referenced. ***This implies that the Scarecrow Series may exist within a floating timeline. If one takes Schofield's age in The Four Legendary Kingdoms and works backwards with the 10-year difference to his age in Ice Station, then it suggests that he was born in 1973/1974 instead of the 1966/1967 indicated by Ice Station. *Schofield has died three times; the first in Ice Station, the second in Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves and the third in The Four Legendary Kingdoms. Each time he was resuscitated before any lasting brain damage could occur. *It is implied that Schofield had a different call-sign before it was changed to Scarecrow. *Schofield has the most appearances of any leader character created by Reilly to appear in his novels. **However, he and Mother both share the distinction of having the largest number of appearances in Reilly's novels since she has appeared in every novel that Schofield has been in. *After Astro, Schofield is the second character to cross over into the Huntsman series; his appearance in The Four Legendary Kingdoms cemented the suspicions that both series existed in the same fictional universe. *''The Four Legendary Kingdoms'' is the only novel where Schofield is primarily referred to by his call-sign rather than his last name. Category:Characters Category:Main Characters Category:Scarecrow Characters Category:Huntsman Characters Category:Leading Characters Category:Protagonists Category:U.S. Characters Category:U.S. Soldiers Category:United States Marine Corps Category:Marine Reconnaissance Unit 16 Category:Marine Helicopter Squadron 1 Category:Great Games Champions Category:Ice Station Category:Area 7 Category:Scarecrow Category:Hell Island Category:Scarecrow and the Army of Thieves Category:The Four Legendary Kingdoms Category:The Three Secret Cities